Existential Thought in African American Literature Before 1945 April 30-May 3, 2015

This panel seeks papers that explore existentialism in African-American thought that predates the codification of the term by Jean-Paul Sartre in the post-World War II period. The premise of this panel explicitly makes the case for the genealogy of African-American existentialist thought, tracing and situating it as a proto-existential literature. Revisiting such literary works prior to World War II will illustrate a rich tradition of African-American existentialist thought.

Please submit your abstract by September 30 to nemla.org/convention/2015/cfp.html#cfp15063